The Beginning of Lexa

11

On the ground

Lexa grinned as she joined the hustle and bustle of the city, holding onto ends of long tables, carrying them towards the middle of the city where the party will be held. Costia stood laughing beside her as children tugged on the legs of the table, trying their best to help.

When they finally placed the table down, Costia bent down to their eye level, her eyes twinkling with happiness. "Would you like to help us prepare food for the festival?"

"Sha!" The children chorused excitedly, finally having the opportunity to help out.

"Heda, would you like to come with us?" Costia looked up at her.

Lexa looked down upon the girl surrounded by children no more than 7 summers old. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips but she kept her poker face on. "I would, but I do not wish to poison the entire city of Polis with my cooking. I shall meet you later?" 

Costia laughed and nodded, allowing the children pull her away to where most women gathered, creating heavenly fragrance from the fire.

Lexa looked around, trying to find a way to help out when she spotted a hunting party, getting ready to leave.

A fire lit up inside of her, she could barely remember her last hunt. She do know she was with Anya, and they had managed to kill a mountain lion. Without a second of doubt, she strode over to the group of hunters, men and women alike, glad that she had decided to bring a couple of knives.

"Do you have a spare horse, I could perhaps borrow?" Lexa asked, cautious of not intruding on their hunting party.

The group looked at her stun, before a grin broke out on all of their faces. "Sha Heda, Juilius had to drop out at the last second. Would you like to come with us?"

Lexa nodded her head, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"It would be my pleasure." 

A blonde guided her to a beautiful stallion, grazing the grass while waiting patiently for his command.

"A bow and arrows if you'd like Heda." Another man held up the weapons in his hands for Lexa to take, so she did.

"Mochof." She strung the weapons across her back while waiting for the rest of the party to get ready.

"Heda, please. Lead the party." The former leader offered and Lexa nodded, pulling her horse into a trot. With every step, they are further away from the heart of Polis, and were enveloped into the never changing forest. Instead of feeling afraid, Lexa welcomed the forest. It's calm and fresh air enveloping them.

The horses silenced their steps on the forest, knowing the routine of what to do. They hunted in silence, using hand signals as their form of communication. A few minutes of trotting silently in the forest, their eyes scanning the trees for signs of movements, the blonde who handed her her horse jumped off of hers, landing silently on the ground. She held onto the reins of her horse as she scouted ahead, looking for signs of animals around them.

She stopped by a hedge, upon closer inspection, the bottom leaves have been covered in faeces, most likely a small animal's. The blonde gestured to the party, pointing to the north, where the animal probably ran to, and probably 5 minutes since the damage was done. 

The group followed the direction gestured, their horses trotting light as feather on the forest ground. A sharp whine suddenly surfaced from the cover of dense trees. The group cautiously approached the noise, and peeped through the thick leaves.

A mountain lion was feasting on a raccoon, probably the source of whining, its alert down as it enjoyed its small meal. Lexa drew her arrow along with the men in the party while the blonde girl unsheathed her knife. 

At the nod of Lexa's head, they released their arrows and watched it embed themselves deeply into the yellow coat of the mountain lion. The beast roared in pain as 4 arrows stuck out of its body, its head swung around trying to find its source of predator. 

They strung up their arrows again and fired it into the beast, deeper than before, causing it to fall to its side. The blonde ran forward and swiftly sliced its throat. 

"Yu gonplei stei odon." The blonde murmured under her breath as the beast loses the light in its eyes.

"Good job." Lexa nodded her head, inspecting the arrows sticking out of the beast, noting an especially deep one. Deeper than hers.

"What's your name?"  She turned to the man who fired the arrow. He has custom trikru short hair, his bulging muscles covered in ink.

"Ai lark Linkoln" The man answered her in their native language.

Lexa nodded. "You are a good hunter."

"Mochof, Heda." He bowed his head slightly at the praise before moving forward to join the others in gathering the beast to bring back to camp.

Lexa speedily moved back to her horse and made a stretcher, just big enough to carry the beast from the branches and twines that littered the floor. They heaved the large beast onto her stretcher and started the ride back to camp. While it felt like they have been out for mere minutes, the sun was already sinking back to its position behind the mountains. They would have to return now before it turns too dark for them to navigate through the forest.