Somewhere beyond the outskirts of the village, Sem had returned to his camp, carrying a deer over his shoulder, where his troop was gathered.
"So you're back. How's all that trouble with your little one?"
These words were spoken by another male nekomata by the name of Malin.
"She's fine now, nothing to worry about," Sem replied.
"I heard she collapsed, that doesn't sound like nothing. Anything we can do to help?" Malin persisted.
Setting the deer down in the back of their troop wagon, Sem replied, dragging his voice in monotone. "No, that's quite alright. We've got everything in order. Let's just get back to our hunt," he insisted upon Malin.
"Well alright, if that's what you want. The caravan is nearly full at the moment however, so there isn't much else we need to hunt. That said, we should be able to make it back home in the next couple days," Malin explained.
"Good, I'll be looking forward to that," Sem replied. "How has everything been with the caravan otherwise?" Sem asked Malin.
"Oh you know, we ran into some dry spots scouring for supplies, but we pulled through. I'm sure we're going to have to move deeper into the forest before long," he answered.
Ulva, another member of their troop, came over carrying various fish and small prey animals slung over her back. "Evening Sem. You've returned rather quickly," she said to him as she placed what she had gathered into the wagon, each item in their respective crates. "You've brought us a nice buck too I see," she noted.
Sem nodded to Ulva in response, "As soon as I could all things considered."
"Well that's good, 'cause you know, although Malin here won't admit it outright, we're fighting for scraps without you," Ulva insisted.
Ulva was a tough sort of woman; independant and full of charisma. Her details were that of the Maine Coon cat. She was tall and well built with long, luxuriously large hair that was burnt orange with naturally occuring golden blone highlights. Her paw-like hands are large and have natural fur cuffs around each wrist; her eyes are bursting yellow like the sun. Unlike other nekomata, her teeth are more pointed and has a more sturdy bone structure. Her large tails of angora are wide spread into three parts.
"And what about you?" Sem ask her.
"Well you know me. I can hold my own a lot better than these runts. It's no trouble," Ulva said before moving a finger in front of her lips as she bent slightly forward in a hushing gesture, "But don't tell the others I said that."
Ulva liked to keep her claws out at all times, as she wanted to be ready for anything at a moment's notice.
"Right..." Malin muttered. "Anyway, I'm going to round everyone up and see what we've gathered," he added.
"Alright," Sem replied.
Ulva was the sort of person you'd almost always catch smiling whenever she'd speak, and when she did, her pointed teeth were always on display.
"So Sem, how is that ol' broad?" she asked in her strong voice as she threw her arm over around his shoulder. She was a bit taller than even Sem. "Her and the kid are handling matters well I hope," she expressed thoughtfully.
Sem was occupying himself with arranging the deer and other materials in the wagon to make a better fit. "I appreciate you asking, however with all things considered, they've been doing quite well," he began to answer, "but," he said with hesitation, "my little girl, you see, had just experienced her first visions."
Ulva's expression turned to one of shock as her mouth hung slightly open, exposing the tips of her teeth. "The kid?" she asked in hesitation, as her usual smile fell off her face.
Sem nodded as he continued to work. "I've taken her to see Kenrir. He's going to do whatever he can to ensure she's ready for what's to come," he explained.
Ulva, hearing the news, removed her arm from Sem's shoulder, and after a moment, opted to rest her paw on it instead. "Sem, don't take this the wrong way, but wouldn't you rather be the one to train her?" Ulva asked, showing her concern, "After all, she is your kid. You should spend more time with her."
Sem took a deep breath. "And I suspect you feel I should just allow the village to fend for itself. I really appreciate your concern Ulva, and I know you believe I'm a great fighter, but I'm not a teacher. Certainly not the kind she needs me to be. I want her to be as prepared for what's ahead as possible, and the best teacher to prepare her for that is Kenrir," Sem insisted, "And besides, there will be plenty of time for me to teach her what I know when she gets back."
Ulva removed her paw, and veered her eyes down as she pondered. A moment later, Sem finished arranging their supplies and turned his attention to Ulva. He raised his hand to Ulva's shoulder, recovering her attention.
"Come on, let's join up with the others," Sem insisted, while wearing a determined expression.
Ulva nodded to Sem as the charismatic confidence returned to her face, "Right!"
Together, the two of them left the wagons, as they walked off through the woods towards the river.
Near the river, a little ways off, was another nekomata named Sheila, who was foraging for herbs, mushrooms, and spices; things of the sort. As she crouched over a small patch of tall grass, she stumbled upon a few sprigs of a red spice that was similar to that of saffron, and when she picked it, she noticed it was as flexible as a blade of grass, as it was just as long. She first smelled the spice, then afterwards, she zipped it through her mouth to get a taste of it to make sure that it was safe for consumption.
Most people wouldn't just put random things in their mouth, but as a nekomata, she had a higher tolerance to some poisons and toxins, and she knew how to best counteract them if needed. Satisfied that it was safe, she placed the spice into her personal satchel, and picked the rest to add to her basket. Luckily, this particular spice told her that the tree closest to the patch of grass, was an Oakius tree, which produced a special bark that was a spice in itself.
Approaching the tree, she pulled out a small carving tool which she used to extract a piece of bark from the tree, exposing a pleasantly earthy fragrance. When nibbling on the piece of bark, she was most satisfied with her find, and began harvesting several pieces to add to her basket.
Sheila was that of a Minuet cat, being small in size and having beautifully dense, medium, long hair. Much like The Oracle, Sheila's hair consisted of a naturally occuring soft grey patch, surrounded in white. As for her eyes however, they were a frosty blue with a very thin line of burnt orange around the rim of her pupils. She had human-like with pointed nails which she liked to keep filed, to be slightly rounded off. Something else unique about her, was Sheila liked to keep thins lines of purple nail polish along the rims of her cuticles on one hand, and light blue on the other. Her twin tails were longer than her bodily proportions, and were plumed and flowing. The color was white from the base, and a large area from the tips were the light grey.
As she was collecting the bark from the tree, Malin turned up nearby.
"Sheila! It's time to gather up," he called her.
She turned her head to call back, "Okay!" as she collected her basket.
She stood up and graciously made her way to Malin's position.
As they moved to approach the river, Sheila and Malin soon saw the other two members of their troop fishing at the basin of the river.
"Ania, Yonca! We're ready!" Malin called out.
The two girls looked to each other, before calling back.
"Copy that!" one of them replied.
"We'll be right up!"
Ania and Yonca are sisters, and were both in the likeness of Tonkinese cats. As the youngest members of their troop, they both had a single tail which came out in a V, indicating they were well along in their tail-splitting process. Their ears and tails were a near shade of black, while their hair was a dark shade of beige, and each had aquamarine eyes. The biggest difference between this set of twins, was that one had paw-like hands while the other had human-like hands with dense, pointed nails.
As they gathered their things, they joined with Malin and Sheila, and together they all moved out to rejoin the others.