"Why did you let me sleep through?" Tsuki asked.
"I was deep in thought. I forgot."
"Good for me, hehe."
"If you're being that cheeky, I might just not wake up the next time you stand guard first."
"Oh man... That was just a joke."
"I know, I'm kidding too.
"How much distance did we cover yesterday, anyway?"
"About 30 kilometers. Maybe less. I think our inexperience with horses caused that. We can't really judge our horses' stamina yet. We may be able to travel further, if we made them run faster."
I looked at the Empire's map. We had a very long way to go. 3000 kilometers to the border and another few thousand after the border. We didn't have a map for the Asian Empire yet, so knowing, how long it would take us, once we were in the Asian Empire, was not possible.
"Tsuki, we have to travel around 50 or 60 kilometers per day, to be able to reach the border in about 2 months. We'll need to hunt for food and look for fresh water at some point. The provisions will last a week or two at best, but after that, it'll be harder."
"Some way to discourage, Niam." Tsuki pouted.
"We'll meet even more people, and especially enemies along the way. I said you didn't need to, but you can use your Salan ability if you'd like."
Tsuki thought about my offer, but after thinking about it really hard, she gave her answer.
"I won't use it. I trust you, I trust us."
'Very good.'
"2 months is a lot of time. Many things will change. That's one third of the time after the impact. Imagine what kind of other things will happen in that time." I stated.
"I'm aware of that."
"Let's go, then."
***
Each time we saddled up, the horses became more familiar with us. The horses changed and became accustomed to our behavior. After some time, the horses stopped whenever we wanted to look for food or scout the area for strangers on their own. We even taught them commands and made sure they learned the tone of our individual calls.
I used a call with my two hands that required me to put them together and blow air into them, creating a sound in the process that reminded someone of a pigeon. Of course the horses had a better hearing and could differentiate between my and a pigeon's coo. Tsuki on the other hand, used a simple, yet effective whistle, in which she only used her 2 fingers.
***
A week into our long journey, we'd eaten and drank all of our provisions. We still had emergency food on us, but that was our call to start hunting for food and look for water. The bad thing about travelling through the Arabic Empire was, the desert like heat and the scarcity of natural water sources. There was always the option to look for a village or a city, but being seen, was essentially leaving a big footprint behind.
We used the horses' innate instinct to find water and our Salan abilities to hunt.
***
In our second week. We were already used to this primitive way of surviving. 'I feel like instincts that were hidden for generations, have appeared, and made our daily life easier.
At one point, we were inside of a forest, and Tsuki had an idea.
"Why not make a bow?" She said nonchalantly.
Something very simple had slipped through my mind, yet again. I wondered why I hadn't thought about making or buying a bow before.
"I will try to make one. You prepare our food and filter the rest of the water in the meanwhile." I suggested.
Now that humans became so much superior, wild animals such as wolves and bears, were no threat to us anymore.
I even thought that killing and eating animals would be hard for Tsuki, but she did just fine. She even excelled when it came to preparing food, so I let her be in charge of it.
"Now, now, now. Where can I find some good wood and a good plant that can be used as a string."
Finding the right wood wasn't the problem. It was the material for the string of the bow that was hard to find. I had already thought about using my Salan ability to tighten the potential string together, by using my Salan ability, but I had yet to find a good material.
After a good hour of searching, I came to find a big tree with slim, long leaves. I cut a whole branch off and carried the materials back to where Tsuki and the horses were. To my surprise, a black bear laid there, dead. It seemed like Tsuki had killed it.
"What happened?" I asked.
"The horses neighed and ran away. Then, the bear came out of nowhere and ran straight at me. I used the dagger to kill it." She said, still under shock.
After looking closer at Tsuki, I could see a wound on her left arm. The wound was caused by the bear, but was rather shallow. 'At least she reinforced her arm with Mana.' I thought.
"Are you okay now?" I asked.
"Mhmh." She nodded.
I helped Tsuki clean her wound with the first aid kit that Mul-Soo had put inside in one of the bags. I cleaned her shallow wound with water, then I covered it with bandages. 'A bit overkill if we put our enhanced regeneration into consideration, but whatever. I need her to feel better.'
I approached the bear and saw that it had been stabbed several times in the throat. 'Bled to death. At least she knows where to stab.'
"If you feel better, skin the bear while I try to build a bow."
My first attempts at making a bow failed. But after some tries, the self made and Mana sustained bow was finished. Holding the the leaves together with my Mana was draining less Mana than I could refill, so sustaining the string's density and tightness was no problem.
"You do the honor. Here." I handed Tsuki the bow.
For an arrow, I used a hard stick I had carved into a smooth and pointy shape.
"There are 2 string-pulling techniques I know of. One of them is the most popular method, where you use the index and middle finger to pull. The second one is, you pull with the inside of your thumb and put your index finger over the thumb so it won't open and release the string. Use both methods and see which one's more comfortable."
Tsuki used both pulling techniques first. She then took the arrow, placed the end to the string and pulled while aiming at the bear's head I'd cut off and pinned to a tree.
Tsuki focused. Her breath became slow and deep. I could feel her heartbeat drop by the less frequent arm flinches that were caused by it. Then, when she exhaled, she released the string. The arrow flew really messy - but that was really my fault - and hit the bear's left ear.
I looked at Tsuki's face, and instead of seeing happiness or pride, her face showed disappointment.
"I could've done better."
I smiled in amusement. I realized that I had awakened something in Tsuki. 'A determination, no, rather a talent she didn't know she had. If that was her first time shooting an arrow with a self made bow, I can't even imagine what she would with a professional made bow.'
To add further excitement, I suggested that she should try and use Mana to reinforce the bow and arrow.
"Try using Mana."
Tsuki didn't speak. A feeling she had never felt before was spreading throughout her body. I knew that feeling. I felt the same thing when I had successfully acted and lied to make Mr.Heff look bad.
Tsuki retrieved the arrow and repeated the whole process, this time with Mana.
"Huuu..." She exhaled.
I couldn't see the arrow fly.
*THUCK*
When I looked at the severed bear head, it was split in half. The arrow, in a position where the bear's forehead was. The arrow flew so fast that it imbedded itself into the tree trunk almost completely.
When I looked at Tsuki again, she nodded in approval.
'She is dangerous.'