Chapter Text
Breathe, aim, and focus.
Before he died, my dad taught me a lot of things: how to tie a knot, how to make a fire, how to craft arrows from the trees – without him, I’d have no idea how to live; how to fare for myself. He may not have been a scholar or a mage, but he was still the most brilliant man I’d ever known.
And of all the wisdom he bestowed upon me while I was young, teaching me how to hunt was by far the most important.
“Hunting isn’t just about finding an animal and striking it through,” he’d say. “It’s about becoming one with the land, knowing how it thinks. If you can’t feel its push and pull, respect its bounty, you’ll never reap its rewards.”
So when I wake up at the softest hours of dawn and don my cloak, I take the time to feel the earth move beneath me. Close my eyes and listen to its breath, allow it to guide me toward my destination.
And that’s exactly what led me here: a thicket of bushes just barely hidden behind the outskirts of a grassy clearing. Even from such a great distance, I could still see my target clear as the afternoon sun: a doe, gentle and caring as it grazed upon the dewey morning grass.
The forest had led me here, shown me the way. Now, I’d take what it’d offered.
I shut my eyes, grabbed an arrow from my quiver and remembered my father’s famous three words.
Breathe, aim, and focus.
My arms knocked the arrow almost completely on their own, and as I pulled back the bowstring, I took in a long deep breath.
One…
Two…
Three–
“Hello there!”
“BAAH!”
Instantly, I shot up from my hiding place and lost my mark, watching as a stray arrow flew through the sky and fell behind the furthest reaches of the canopy.
And of course, the doe in the center had run away without leaving so much as a trace behind.
Immediately, I snapped my head to the side, brow furrowing with anger.
That shout…someone had just spoken to me, right? I hadn’t imagined it?
No…someone had definitely said hello.
Quickly, I knocked another arrow and spun around on my heel, shooting arm itching for the chance to pierce the idiot who’d just disturbed my hunt. “Who goes there?! Come on out!”
…
Silence. Nary a sound, whisper, or whimper from the trees surrounding us.
But that’s when a nearby bush started rustling, and I immediately aimed an arrow at its source.
“You! Out! Now!”
“O-okay!” a tiny little voice cried, and before I knew it, I was greeted by the sight of a small girl sticking her head out from behind the brush.
And the moment I saw her, I felt every muscle in my body instantly relax.
She had a full head of messy brown hair, the top of which was decorated by a strange looking wreath made of mushrooms and leaves. Her eyes were blue too, a mystifying shade of color that made them both seem like small puddles of water.
But that wasn't what caught my attention first. It was the antlers, and the obviously non-human ears.
“Who…who are you?” I breathed.
“Oh! I didn’t say my name yet, did I? Oopsie me, hehe,” she laughed, bright and bubbly like a clear summer’s day. “My name is Max! What’s yours?”
Without thinking, I slowly lowered my bow to the ground, feeling in real time as my mind grinded to a sudden halt.
It took me a long time to find my voice again, but as soon as I did, I stammered a tiny, “Uh – Chloe.”
She made a little ahhhh sound, ogling at my name as if it were some kind of precious treasure. “Chloe…well Chloe, now that we both know each other’s names we’re friends now!”
“Right…” I noted, not sure what I was supposed to say to that. “You, um…kinda scared me back there, Max.”
Her big, definitely-not-human ears started sagging. “Oh, did I…? I’m so sorry. I was just curious and wanted to say hello.”
Before I could respond with yet another one of the three billion questions currently blazing through my mind, Max suddenly started sniffing something. Out of nowhere, she shut her eyes and began to rise out of her bush.
“Uh…what are you doing?”
She didn’t answer, instead, she stood up to her full height (which wasn’t that much taller than when she was crouched) and started inching my way.
I had to hold back a great gasp of amazement the moment I saw her move. Now that I could see her body, unhidden behind the leaves, I saw that she was…furry. Like an animal. I’d never seen anything like it before.
Somehow, she was half girl, half deer. Her lower body, ten times furrier than her torso, consisted of thick, strong looking legs that had hooves instead of feet. She didn’t seem to be wearing much in the way of clothing, but the only thing covering her chest was a makeshift top made out of brownish, orange leaves. Dozens of little twigs and sticks protruded from its edge, making her look similar to a walking bush.
I couldn’t take my eyes away, and for some reason, my face felt all hot and bothered. Nerves poking at my cheeks like tiny hot needles.
When Max finally closed the distance, I expected her to open her eyes and say something…but of course, in continuing with her consistent theme of surprising me half to death, she suddenly pressed up against my chest and kept on sniffing.
Okay. Too close. Way too fucking close!
“Wh-what?! M-Max what are you–”
“You smell like the forest…” she gaped, lifting her head to look up at mine. “You’re like…a big ball of healthy mud and freshly chewed grass.”
“Uh…thanks?”
“You’re very welcome!” she beamed, finally opening up those big blue eyes and giving me the warmest smile I’d ever seen. “Ooh you must be one with this place! Like me! I can tell.”
Again, providing me with approximately zero warning, she gently grabbed one of my hands and began idly nuzzling it against her cheek. “Your fingers smell of the earth too…so warm.”
My brain felt like it’d just been set on fire. Feeling how soft her fur was, how gentle she was being…what the hell was I supposed to do? I’d never encountered anything like this before, and while my mind was telling me, ‘this is too much, this is too much, this is too much’, my heart was telling me ‘stay, stay, stay.’
“Uh, Max–” I managed, voice cracking worse than the sound of shattered glass. “What are you, exactly?”
In an instant her beautiful, innocent eyes met mine, and suddenly the world around us seemed to vanish into nothingness. It was just me and her now, a single blue butterfly fluttering into view just so it could land on one of her antlers.
“I’m a satyr,” she smiled. “And what are you, miss Chloe?”
“Well, I’m – I’m a human.”
“I’ve never met a human before,” she noted. “But if they’re all as pretty as you, they must be alright!”
Oh yeah. This was too much.
The last thing I remembered before passing out was shutting my eyes. After that, the only sounds I could recall were the harsh thuds of my body hitting the ground and the curious call of Max’s sweet voice.
I guess my dad was right. Hunting is all about becoming one with the land.