Primitive Instinct: The Journey Home

I yawned as I waited for the snow to melt so I could make the morning tea before Roar’kaol’tok even woke. It did feel great to be clean, but I knew it wouldn’t last. My plan was to take all of time I could to just... be clean. I checked the clothes I had made to make sure they were dry before glancing at the sleeping hunter. It would be a little while still before he woke up, even with me moving around in here, so I quickly changed clothes and stuffed the cooler ones back into my pack.

I sat down with my gloves and some of the mammoth hair cord to start sewing the orou’s claws in place while I waited for the tea to steep. I figured it would be ready about the same time the hunter normally woke up. Funny how you learn a person’s routine after such a short time. Nothing like total immersion to force you to focus and learn things.

“Fern!” the hunter jerked away and looked around, his claws out, even the ones on his feet.

“Roar’kaol’tok?” I asked and his eyes landed on me for a second before he groaned and relaxed. “Bad dream?”

Diesel grumbled sleepily from where he had jerked awake at the hunter’s outburst before huffing.

“Beel,” Roar’kaol’tok rubbed a paw down his face. “Predator hunt Fern’rath’fik.”

“Hm. Strong-bad,” I nodded and slipped my glove on to try it out before knotting the last claw into place. “Good thing it’s only a dream.”

“Strong scare,” he sighed and sat up before shaking his head.

“I’m not going down easy,” I smiled and flexed my hands a few times before holding them out for him to see. “Neela raan.”

I saw an ear flick before he smirked and nodded, getting up to go with Diesel to water the snow. Being a female sucked when it came time for that to happen. It didn’t matter what we needed to do, our whole ass was going to freeze. Although, I guess it was bad for men, because that was kind of an important body part being exposed to very cold air.

“Why does my mind go to frostbitten man bits?” I made a face and pulled my gloves off before using the antler tongs to move the pitcher from the fire. “Because of Rudy, that’s why. Man had no filter, even when telling an eight-year-old girl about nearly freezing his balls off while taking a leak. Crazy old fart, but maybe not nearly as crazy as I thought, being in the current situation. And I’m talking to myself, so I can’t be that far off from that particular farm.”

I shook my head at my own rambling before the two males I lived with returned and Roar’kaol’tok was frowning deeply.

“That’s not a good look,” I said, watching as he and Diesel both shook off fresh snowflakes.

“Saisai,” he dusted off his shoulders before pulling his vest off and going to grab the warmer shirt I had used to copy my own. “Bova mapok kees.”

Diesel picked up his antler piece and then made a show of walking in place, lifting his feet high before moving over and dropping the toy.

“I know move, but what’s with the chewy, Dies?” I asked and he huffed, going to grab my pack and dragging it over to the antler. “Pack. Pack and move?”

“Move,” the hunter said as he tied the first flap in place, then gestured to the whole tent.

“Just us or everyone?” I asked and he gestured wide before he started to tie the second flap. “Everyone. How in the heck are you going to pull this on sleds?”

I patted the thick hide and he just smirked before he started to place everything into leather bags or laid them out on hides to be wrapped up later. He pointed to things and I started helping him pack. After a while of this, a horn sounded and he nodded once before gesturing for me to keep packing and then left.

“The whole village is packing up and moving, Dies,” I said. “I was just getting used to this and now it’s all changing and I get to freeze my face off as they go who even knows where for however long it’ll take us to get there.”

He grumbled and huffed as he chewed on his antler piece and I huffed at his lack of input.

“I have never wanted a real conversation more,” I muttered as I kept packing.

I was nearly finished when Roar’kaol’tok came back holding my orou skin over one arm and I lifted an eyebrow. I wasn’t an expert, but processing skin took more time than that. Or so I thought.

“God, I wish I was fluent so I could ask and actually get an answer I could understand,” I said taking it and holding it up. It was very soft and supple and I knew it would be warm and cozy, though I’d probably still freeze my face off.

“Make.”

That was it. The only warning I got before something was dropped on my head and when I looked up at something that hovered over my eyes, the hunter quickly tied two flaps together, encasing my face, aside from my eyes in super warm fur. He took the orou fur from me and draped it over my shoulders, using the front leg parts to tie it under my chin and then adjusted how it sat until I was basically wearing a fur robe. The orou might have been a small animal, but without the body inside the fur, I could easily grab the sides of my trophy coat and pull it shut around me. It paid off having a trim physique. Thanks, once again, Uncle Rudy.

“You made a hat for me?” I asked and he snorted before laughing loudly and loosening the flaps around my face so I wasn’t muffled.

I pulled it off and blinked, seeing the orou’s head fur, complete with ears and nose, which was the thing I had seen over my eyes. The bottom jaw had been removed and when I looked at where the snout bones should have been, I found a bone frame and then narrowed my eyes at the teeth I knew I pulled out.

Roar’kaol’tok pointed at the antler tip Diesel had abandoned to come sniff at the fur I was wearing and grinned.

“You made me a badass hat,” I smiled back at him and Diesel barked, wagging his tail.

“Pack,” he said and jerked his head for us to start taking things outside as he dumped the stone pitcher of water on the fire.

I hefted a bag and he smirked before grabbing four and I rolled my eyes as I followed him outside to find a pair of freaking lanka there with a huge sled behind them. I looked around and saw that pretty much everyone had lanka pulled sleds waiting for them and I blinked in shock.

“Just how many lanka does Hool’gra’nat care for?” I asked and Diesel sneezed as I put the bag with the ones the hunter had brought out and followed him back inside to get more.

When the tent was empty of everything but the stones that had made the fire pit, Roar’kaol’tok touched the stones before pulling that apart, too. I watched, knowing there was no way I could move one of those big stones, much less lift it and carry it outside. I couldn’t actually see in there, but I knew what was going on by the sounds and the fact that charred stone was being carried out of the tent.

After a few minutes of silence, I poked my head inside and still saw nothing.

“Did you fall? I can’t see to help you and I’m sure I’d be zero help anyhow because, according to you, I’m small and squishy,” I called out and diesel barked a few times before the hunter suddenly appeared in the doorway, making squeak and jump back as he laughed. “Not sure if you noticed, big guy, but I don’t have cool eyes that help me see light in the darkness.”

He trailed leather straps behind him as he came outside, then he gave them a few hard pulls before I heard something happen inside and watched as he pulled the support poles out while the tent sides sagged heavily. He placed them all together and started to wrap them into a bundle that he took to the lanka sled.

Once those were stowed away, he stood by one of the bone supports and put all of his paws in the snow, gave his body a little wiggle, then launched himself upwards, using his claws to grab the bone and climb up, untying the heavy straps that kept the hide on the frame before hopping deftly to the next bone, and the next, before the last one sent the hide flopping to the ground.

He looked very catlike, perched at the apex of the tent frame as he untied the first bone and used the strap to lower it to the ground gently before jumping down and landing in the middle of the tent on all fours.

“Holy shit,” I breathed out. I knew my eyes were huge and my mouth was probably wide open, too, but I gave no shits. “That was so fucking awesome.”

The hunter laughed as he moved the big bone to the side of the tent and then climbed the frame again.

“Roar’kaol’tok, don’t hurt yourself,” I scolded when he started untying another bone and he stopped for a second to start laughing after Diesel likely translated again, adding his own embellishments, because that was a lot of barking for a short sentence. “Hey, don’t put words on me I didn’t say, Dies.”

The next bone came down and that left only an arch holding the hunter up as he wobbled to keep it balanced.

“You are going to give me bad dreams,” I said and he laughed again before he leaned forwards.

I cried out as the arch tipped, but he deftly dropped so he was dangling from it as it fell then hit ground and braced as he caught the falling bones and laid them down and smiled widely at me.

“I swear, you are going to be the reason I have high blood pressure before I’m twenty-five,” I glared at him and he chuckled again before he started to untie the remaining support bones. “I don’t even drink, but I think I need a very strong one after that.”

“Fern’rath’fik scared?”

“Roar’kaol’tok baabak and you just about scared the life out of me,” I answered and held my hands out at the pile of hide that had been home. “If you got hurt, how am I supposed to fight a tent?”

Diesel warble-talked and the hunter actually fell onto his back and held his middle as he roared with laughter, getting several curious looks from our neighbors.

“Whatever, you loon,” I waved him off and picked up the harness for Diesel and tucked my gloves into the belt of my pants so I could get ready to be at least sort of helpful on the trip out of here.