We sealed it with dwarven delight,

A whiskey that burns through the night!

The gold's rolling in,

We toast with a grin—

Now riches and fire feel just right!

Goldie Honorhide

"Do you know who that was?" Kevin was way too excited for Yoboc and Goldie's hangovers. "That was Kiri Hunter, daughter of the legendary Wiremu Hunter!"

I had heard the name, but I had no idea what he was famous for.

"She knows the Black Butcher! Wiremu Hunter and the Black Butcher were known to work together, and many thought they were lovers. The dark deeds of the Black Butcher offset Wiremu, the reluctant hero. Brother and sister, it makes so much more sense!"

"I am going to the Lore Society," I said. "I will meet you at the Treasury at lunch."

Yoboc and Goldie gave me a wave. Makara also drank a lot last night, but she didn't seem as badly off as Yoboc and Goldie.

"Hang on! I am coming too!" Kevin said.

When we got there, Kevin disappeared into the aisle with the history books. I collected a small selection of books and went upstairs to find a quiet place to read. Felix came and rested at my feet. I anticipate that after we have been to the treasury, we will go for a long run in the countryside.

I had only just started when my Void Sensing picked up a person coming in my direction. My Olfactory confirmed the smell of the forest and flowers. I looked up, and Lady Kiri came out of the aisle and said, "May I sit?"

I nodded. I didn't want to be rude, at least till after Yoboc and Goldie had their coin. Makara, too, I guess.

"Not many sense me coming," she said.

"You weren't trying to hide," I replied.

She nodded and looked at my books. "Organs in Greater Mammals, Eyesight Basics, and Bone Breaking Research are not the sort of books I expected you to be reading."

"I have an appointment with a healer next week about my eye and wanted to get a basic understanding first," I said.

She nodded, "That explains the Eyesight Basics." She left hanging, as it didn't explain the other two books.

I ignored the inference and waited. The silence stretched.

I decided to break it. "Did you try to probe my mind or status back at the Dukes?"

She frowned, "It is a bad habit of Leif's and has got him into trouble in the past. Your response surprised him. He described your mind as extremely cold." She looked at me. "You don't act cold."

I was tending to believe it wasn't her. She was definitely more physically oriented, but I reserved judgment for now.

Then she smiled, "I like you, Ivan. You remind me a lot of my father. He is also a man of few words and enjoys silence and being alone." I gave a small shrug, as I didn't know her father. "I also like that you have no idea who my father is. It means we can be equals, and I get none of the funny worship-like attitude."

"Equals?" I asked. "Aren't you a noble?"

"Pfffft. There is a reason Leif is the heir, and it is not just because his father is married to my mother. Nobility and I don't get on. Mum recognised it, and when I was 12, she packed me off to go train with my father. Leif was only seven then. I came back for his eighteenth birthday, and we joined the army together. He needed his big sister to help him through basic training." She winked at me.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

She looked at me in silence for a bit. I just waited. "Can I see that pendant you are wearing?" she asked out of the blue.

I pulled the pendant I carved in the Arctic out of my shirt where she could see it. "Why?"

She reached over and felt it. "Did you carve it?"

I nodded.

"I notice your bond, Felix also has one." I nodded again.

"What sort of material is it? It is highly spiritual."

"It is a bone, but I never really found out what creature it was from," I replied, fudging things a bit.

"It is very heavy, like metal heavy. Do you have more of this bone?" she asked.

"Some. I am going to take it to an Osteowright and get some throwing knives made. You haven't answered why you are interested in this."

She looked me in the eye, "You ignore questions you don't want to answer."

"True," I acknowledged.

She stood up. "I will tell you what, Ivan Medved. After we have been to the Treasury, you and Felix come hunting with Pānihi and me. If you let me examine some of that bone, maybe I will tell you why I am interested."

I thought about it for a bit. I didn't know her. I was looking forward to time alone with Felix. I looked down to see what Felix thought about a joint hunt, as he didn't seem to get on with the panther. He didn't seem to mind. He just wanted to run.

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I looked up at Lady Kiri, who was silently and patiently waiting. That alone spoke well of her. "Very well, Lady Kiri, Felix and I were going to go for a run anyway. A hunt will work out OK."

"Good, but forget the lady trollshit. It is just Kiri and Pānihi. I will see you in a couple of hours," and she left.

I mentally noted that I need to research Elemental Bonds as well. The Black Butcher's use of a shadow elemental as a bond was fascinating. I wonder how that even worked. It was low on my list, so I would probably just leave it for now and ask Kevin later, as I bet he is researching it.

By the time I was ready to leave, my Anatomy was knocking on the door to Journeyman, and my knowledge of organs and bones had reached apprentice. Those were the easy Novice levels, and now the learning really begins.

When we arrived at Treasury House, Kiri turned up in her hunting leathers, carrying a slim backpack, a Longbow, and a quiver of arrows. There were a number of knives on her belt, including the Blacksteel war knife. I didn't see or sense Pānihi anywhere, but she will be around.

I was wearing a torn leather vest and cloth work trousers. I had my one-handed axe, a couple of basic knives, and a small pack.

The transfer went smoothly, and a record of sale was drawn up.

I told Yoboc, Goldie and Makara, "Felix and I are going hunting now with Kiri and Pānihi."

Yoboc replied, "When will you be back?"

I shrugged. Kiri spoke up, "We have our dinner in three days, so sometime before then."

"Are you sure, Lad?" Yoboc asked. "Remember what we talked about on the beach and the Mer."

"I am sure," I said, but I hadn't considered that this could be a human sexual thing. I don't think it is. Yoboc is just looking out for me. I nodded to show I understood.

Kiri and I left at a jog for the southern gate. About halfway, Pānihi joined us, and then people tried to get out of our way. I am a half-ton, 2.6m tall beast-kin, and it takes a cat for people to get out of our way? That didn't make sense to me.

I looked at Kiri jogging beside me. She looked so small, although she was of average height compared to other human females. Her black hair was tied back in a plait. She had average sized tits, not big like the a dwarf, but not flat under the leather either. She jogged with an easy grace.

We didn't slow down at the gate but left the road and sped up. Kiri's legs were pumping faster than my long stride, but she had no trouble keeping up. Felix trotted alongside us, but Pānihi raced ahead, and I soon lost her in the sparse forest.

Black Panthers were not native to this area, but Mountain Lions are common here. They are usually slightly smaller than the black panther and have tan fur. I tracked Pānihi for a while but lost her track soon after.

Kiri indicated a change of direction occasionally, I assume based on Pānihi's scouting. We ran for about three hours, barely speaking. That was good.

Kiri slowed, and we came into a small clearing. Pānihi was there feasting on a mountain sheep she had killed. She snarled at Felix when he got too close.

Kiri walked up and lightly smacked her on the bloody jaw, "Behave. We are sharing, and you had better not have ruined the pelt." Pānihi snarled at her but didn't complain when Kiri stripped the hide off a leg, chopped it off, and tossed it to Felix. She looked at me, "Do you like your meat raw or cooked?" She had obviously been around Beast-kin before.

"I like both. If you are going to cook yourself some, I will wait."

Kiri nodded and shoved Pānihi out of the way as she finished skinning and butchering the sheep. She found some leaves to wrap the meat in and handed it to me to carry. She spent a lot of time cleaning the pelt. Pānihi and Felix were next to each other, eating the goat's offal. One meal and they were now good mates? They tusseled briefly over what my new lore identified as the liver, but it wasn't serious. I wish people were that easy to make friends with.

We waited while Kiri meticulously cleaned the pelt, and the best thing was that she didn't bother to make conversation. My Guard Training had me constantly scanning my surroundings. Yes, I saw Kahz keeping an eye on us. He was trying to keep out of range, but he wasn't hard to spot.

We moved on. Pānihi stayed close this time. We found a small stream around dusk and set up camp. I chopped some wood, and Kiri lit a fire to cook our meat. She set up a drying rack for the pelt as well.

The sun was mostly down when Kiri asked, "Do you want to go for a night hunt?" I looked at Pānihi, who was lazing by the fire, and I think Felix was asleep. "Pānihi won't want to go, she has a full belly. By the look of it, Felix is the same. They can watch the camp."

I shrugged, "Sure." I grabbed my axe, Kiri grabbed her bow, and we set out. Kiri definitely had Darksight with her Farsight. Half an hour in, she brought down a deer with her bow, which I didn't even see. I left her to clean and butcher it in the dark while I went on.

I snuck up on a sheep and caught it with a sprint and Quick Claws. I was almost finished cleaning that when Kiri came up. We carried the pelts and some of the meat back to camp and created a couple more drying racks.

Kiri spent time finishing cleaning my pelt to her standard. "It is important to get all the meat and fat off," she said, "or it rots. I am working towards a skill for it."

We sat around the fire, making some of the meat into jerky. We both had small packets of salt and spices. We compared which spices we preferred.

"Did you bring some of that bone?" she asked. I just removed my pendant and tossed it to her. She gave me a look I couldn't interpret, then set to examining it.

I just kept turning the meat. Felix raised his head, so I tossed him a piece, and Pānihi did the same, so I tossed her some too. There was more meat than we could eat here, and we had left a lot for the night scavengers. I didn't consider that a waste, having been a scavenger at one point.

Evening turned into a full night. There were too many trees for me to see the stars, and clouds drifted across the sky. I put another log on the fire.

"Are you really not going to ask why I wanted to examine the bone?" Kiri said.

I shrugged, "You will either tell me or you won't."

"Can I keep it while we are out here?"

I nodded, "Sure."

"Are you going to sleep in your bear form?" Kiri asked. "It is fine with me if you want to."

"I usually do," I said, "but I am not advertising what bear type I am."

"I wondered why you had no fur. Beast-kin usually like to keep some fur."

I nodded.

"My cold resistance is still only in the early teens," Kiri said, "It is colder here than I am used to, so I usually use Pānihi to keep warm. My heat resistance is in the extreme though, because, well, Mum and Dad are both hot if you know what I mean."

I knew her Mum had a fire affinity, so I assumed her Dad was similar.

"Both my Mum and Dad are affinity users," she continued. "I have a high chance of awakening an affinity, but I have not found the right thing yet. You would think it would be fire, rock, lava or poison, but no. It wasn't even Shadow from Antie B or Earth from Auntie Drica. I am trying all sorts of things, plants, metals, water, you name it. Nothing. This, though," she held up my pendant, "this is something different."

I nodded, just listening.

"Dad says not to fret or try so hard. His affinity came unexpectedly after three years, surrounded by it and breathing the dust. He was in a quarry," she clarified. "There are all these expectations for the daughter of the Inferno Duchess and the legendary Wiremu Hunter. Mum hates that name, by the way. Dad hates his legend, too."

I nodded.

"You don't know who I am talking about," she said in wonder, "and you don't care. Thank you, Ivan."

I chuckled. Kiri looked at me. "It is the first time I have been thanked for being ignorant," I said.

She chuckled, "Sorry. I'll take first watch then."

I nodded. I got up and stripped naked, then changed into my bear form. Kiri just watched and then said, "Ah, yes. That is distinctive."

I lay down, and Felix snuggled in.

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