Hooves pounded hard on the ground as a large wild boar fled across the plains, snorting and squealing with fright. A white horse raced after it, a red haired maiden saddled upon its back with her bow drawn, and an arrow ready to fire. She ignored the screech from above, knowing that her Phoenixes were merely keeping a watchful eye. Instead, she focused on her target. Hunting wasn’t something she did for sport, so she had no intention of killing the boar without good reason. And she was not so low as to kill for money either. No, she planned on cooking the boar as the main course in a meal. With a side of variable fruits and vegetables to balance the nutrients. She planned on sharing the meal with Cecil, and hoped he would enjoy it. Boar was one of her favorite things to cook, and was one of many things she could cook well. But so far, eggs and toast was all Cecil knew she could cook, so, part of her also wanted to show off her cooking skills. After all, the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, right?
She followed the boar far from Virens Forest, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Then she saw it. The boar veered too far to the side, and she took the chance before the door could close. One moment was all it took for her to set its most vital spot in her sights, and no longer for her to strike. The arrow sliced through the air with deadly accuracy, and struck the boar dead in its heart. It barely had time to wail out with pain before it fell over and went limp. With a beaming smile of triumph, she pulled the reins, “Whoa.”
Nelanna leaped off the horse and kneeled down next to the dead boar. She never enjoyed killing a living thing despite how pure her reasons were, but she didn’t regret it. She lived a life of freedom, unbound by regrets of the past, nor by any guilt. She made sure of this by making each and every decision very carefully, thinking of the consequences beforehand. Being unbound by the shackles of the past was true freedom in her mind. However, some weren’t so fortunate. Cecil was one of them, for no matter how far he ran, no matter where he would hide, the past always found him and made him suffer. His father would always find him and make him suffer. How terrible that must be for him, Nelanna constantly found herself thinking. Oh how she wished to help him escape from his father, his past. But, how does one go about doing that? She had yet to find the answer to that question.
With her thoughts back on the boar before her, she gently closed its glazed eyes and whispered words of gratitude for the food it would provide, then words of apology for taking its life. The moment she attempted to move the boar, she realized just how large it really was, and how heavy. And, she also realized how little effort she had put into thinking just how she was to get it back to her cottage in the forest. How was she to lift the thing? She really could be quite the airhead sometimes.
