บท 15: Hunting (I)

At dawn, some fifteen men, the first hunting group to set out, could be seen outside their houses, getting ready for the day's hunt. The women of their houses were passing a few packed food to the men but they usually ate what they got from the hunt.

Today, a few smaller figures were included in the group. In this gathering, one little boy was especially obvious since he was also jumping up and down beside his father, showing that he was excited to start the day's hunt.

Since he was the youngest member of the hunting group, Ling didn't voice out his opinions but the others can also see it in his face, 'Why aren't we leaving yet?'

"Go now or the ground will be uneven in that spot with all your son's jumping." Mahina kissed her husband and son goodbye. She was a little worried since it was the first time a four-year-old joined a hunt but she trusts the shaman's judgement.

Shaman Matnaad was also present in that day's gathering before the hunt to check on the children who will be joining. Once they reached the village border, the children were hoisted up on the men's backs so they could run faster. They waved goodbye to the border guards and off they go to the vast forest.

It was the first time Ling and the other children saw the 'haze' in the forest without the protection around the village. Because of the life 'mist' from the huge trees, most of the colors in the atmosphere were a lively green. It was different from what they usually see inside the village like the fields and gardens because the trees here were full of life longer than even the oldest villager.

When the hunting group ran a few meters away from the border, they speeded up, so fast that the green of the trees and the 'haze' in the forest blended together. When one looked up, the leaves from the tall trees were already blocking the sky, until that part of the forest got darker with only a few rays from the sun lighting their path. You can't even see the tall volcano with how close the trees were getting.

The feeling inside the forest was also different. Even though they were shielding themselves from the 'haze' from the forest, they can still feel the life inside it. Some animal sounds can also be heard, adding to that sense of life.

Once they slowed down a little, they can see some of the small animals scurrying around, as if going to hide from the foreign creatures.

Ling was so excited with what he was seeing and he kept asking his father, "What's that?"

"That's a bird's nest."

"Whazzat?"

"... a bird."

"Ooh, how about that? Ow-" A branch grazed the boy's arm when he tried to point to the brown spot he saw.

Bobo stopped running and called out to the others to slow down. Before the other men reached them, he whispered to his son, "That was the 'haze' from a dead animal. We will check what happened and supress it so it won't affect the other surroundings."

Instead of asking one of his men to check, Bobo went to the dead animal himself to show his son. He crouched down and frowned at what he saw. He signaled one of his men to get near, "This one looks like it was attacked by many but managed to run away. Try to track where it came from and see if the situation is stable and won't affect the forest."

The other man nodded and ran to the direction of the animal's blood.

In the course of this conversation, nobody saw the reaction of the bundle at his back. Ling was shocked that what his father said made sense, but then he nodded afterwards, thinking that his father should at least be good at what he does everyday.

While waiting for the man who scouted the tracks, the other men stopped to teach their children of the things they can find in the forest. Ling asked to be put down in the.mean time to take a closer look.

Aftet a while, that man got back and he explained the situation. It looked like a fight broke out with two wolf packs last night. The other pack was decimated so they have to go there to control the 'haze'.

As another hunter explained, one of the responsibilities of the hunting group was to keep the balance of the 'haze' in the forest so it also wouldn't affect their village. A death of an animal because of the food chain was manageable with the life 'mist' from the trees but a fight like this may result to further fights and death 'haze' that can reach the village. The group also thought of having one man go back to inform the village as well as the next hunting groups about this incident.

To the children's surprise, when they reached the area where the fight occurred, the brown 'haze' were more visible and a few of the wounded wolves were also sufferring from the wolves they killed.

"We can't teach these animals not to kill as this is part of their nature. To keep the 'haze' balanced, we control the emotions of wildness inside them so they won't start a fight like this. However, it was impossible to keep check on all the animals of the forest so we can only heal the wounded and supress the 'haze' of the dead after the fight."

A child stammered to ask the hunter, "Uh.. We can't kill and eat the bad ones before they even start a fight like this?"

The same man smiled but did not disregard the boy's question, "I also asked that when I was little. But wouldn't we be the same as them if we kill all animals we thought were 'bad'? Besides, the forest is still too large for the few of us to keep all the animals in check."

All the children nodded after hearing this while a little boy was thinking that it could be possible if there were more people in the village, more play mates in the future.