Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, Lavi Ravi tried to focus at the task at hand.
That task being to sell the skins and meat he had amassed from hunting at the markets.
He let his eyes wander over the various wares of the Rosewood Stalls; the hunter always found himself mesmerized by the sheer amount of products they had to sale every time he visited them.
Arms, jewellery, even food. It was astounding, the small family-owned shop back in Hyrstmill had nothing like this.
‘Gods, what a grim memory...thought I wiped my mind clean of that incident’ the lalafell thought to himself, tightening his grip on the bulging hempen sack that was slung over his shoulder. ‘So much time has passed since then…’
Twelve summers to be exact.
After a crushing defeat at the claws of the Ixal, young Lavi had awoke to find himself lying in a ditch somewhere in the forest without any trace of his father to be found. Not his weapons, equipment or spoils.
Not even a hair remained.
Regardless, a small search party consisting of the villagers of Hyrstmill and a few Twin Adder foot soldiers headed back into the dense forest to search for Orin Kel.
Alas, they found nothing.
The Adders said something about his father becoming ‘tempered’ but Lavi had no idea what that term meant, all he knew was that his father was never coming home.
No longer would he see his serious, focused face as he nooked an arrow.
His jolly, positive energy would forever be gone and now, in tandem; his small home just felt that much emptier.
On that day, Lavi made two promises to himself.
Firstly, he resolved to make the most of each day, every day. He was reminded of how fleeting life was in this world when Orin passed. There was no guarantee that you would live to see tomorrow, so it would simply be better to live with no regrets.
And secondly, he needed strength and security, in order to protect his mother and his home.
As expected, life changed drastically with his father gone and Lavi found himself being the man of the house, supporting his widowed mother and providing for her.
As a result, the little lalafell threw himself into hunting in order to put food on the table, using the loss of his father as motivation to carry on his legacy.
A day wouldn’t go by where he wasn’t out in the thicket of the forest, loosing arrows and stalking prey. In the beginning, he couldn’t catch so much as a rabbit but as time marched on, something changed within Lavi.
Maybe it was the loss of Orin or perhaps it was Lavi’s own desire to become a seasoned hunter; either way the lalafell found himself slowly understanding the art of hunting.
Glancing back to his sack of spoils, the lalafell’s mind recalled the hunt that had netted him such a large bounty.
It was a true test of his skills as a hunter. Funnily enough, he was honestly thankful to the beast that had threatened to end his life.
The memory was still fresh in his mind.
YOU ARE READING
Wanderers
Fanfiction"I almost hate to admit it, but we need each other if we want to make it out of here in one piece" Finding themselves entwinned by the thread of fate, an unlikely group of characters find themselves travelling the realm of Eorzea together. Hailing...
