Some time after the sun had passed overhead...
A figure with a woman on his shoulder and carrying multiple items was seen walking quickly towards the outskirts of the forest.
This person was none other than North.
Although he was walking towards the outer parts of the forest, his main goal was to find a safe place to spend the night, and he continued walking with all his attention focused on his surroundings.
Normally, it would have taken him the span of two incense sticks to reach from the snowy clearing just outside the forest to where he had been and spent the night until recently, but at his current speed, that wasn't possible.
In addition to the things North was carrying when he arrived, there were several kilos of animal meat and a quiver with an arrow inside.
Moreover, considering the woman he was carrying on his shoulder like a bag, it wasn't possible for him to return the same distance in the span of two incense sticks.
Although he walked with a dagger in one hand, carrying many weights that constrained him didn't make him feel safe at all.
However, there was nothing he could do.
There was little way for him to escape this weight and feeling of vulnerability unless he let go of the woman.
It wasn't even within the realm of possibility to leave the woman. If he were going to leave her, he wouldn't have taken her with him in the first place.
While walking towards the outer parts of the forest, he carefully looked around, searching for a place where the two of them could spend the night.
Meanwhile, he thought about the situation he was in.
'If I were alone, I would still look for a place like a tree hollow, but how will I find a tree hollow that can accommodate two people?'
SIGHING...
'I will search for a tree hollow for a while longer. If I can't find one, we'll have to climb up a thick branch of a tree that is high enough from the ground and spend the night there.'
Although this idea may have seemed like a good one, it was actually quite a risky method for spending the night.
After all, in this forest, there weren't only four-legged predators. There were also rodents, reptiles, and flying animals.
This meant that staying on a high tree branch would actually provide protection against only a small portion of the dangers in the forest.
Considering the coldness of the night air in addition to all these predators in the forest, it became clear that staying warm and sleeping would also become quite difficult.
This led him to the decision that this should be done as a last resort.
Despite a considerable amount of time passing since they left the clearing, they still hadn't come across a place that looked good to him.
Some time later...
After walking the entire way and almost reaching the exit of the forest, he managed to find only a tree hollow that could accommodate just one person.
When they arrived at the tree hollow, he looked around and thought, 'Why didn't I notice this place earlier?'
The location where this tree hollow was found was actually quite close to where he thought he had entered the forest.
After walking with all that load for a span of a couple of incense sticks, North, feeling tired, wanted to quickly determine whether this place was safe enough.
Upon examining the tree hollow and its surroundings for about one-tenth of a span of an incense stick, without removing the woman from his shoulder, he decided that the environment was safe enough to spend the night.
As sunset approached, the forest covered with trees began to be gently enveloped by darkness.
'At least I managed to avoid taking the pointy-eared woman up onto the tree branch.'
With a relieved expression on his face from escaping the worst option, he took the woman down from his shoulder and began preparing for the night.
He again found a few tree branches and bark pieces like he had done the previous day, then tightly tied them with fabric pieces he took out from his bag.
After checking the tree hollow one last time to make sure there were no insects or other animals inside, he went to where he had left the woman leaning against a tree and picked her up in his arms.
While the woman, still appearing faint and exhausted, continued to breathe deeply, he tried to place her in the tree hollow without her head hitting the tree.
After placing her inside the hollow, he slid his arms back around her and tried to adjust the woman's body into the most comfortable position.
Having settled the woman, satisfied with the situation, he took the lid and tightly closed the mouth of the hollow.
He sighed wearily...
'This is the safest option, let's hope the predators won't be attracted to the smell of blood.'
Naturally, unable to stay in the open area unconscious and with torn, bloody clothes, he had placed the woman into the tree hollow.
This way, the possibility of predators detecting the scent overnight decreased, and at the same time, he also avoided the trouble of staying with an unconscious person on the tree branch.
Now the only problem was that he would spend the night in the open area.
He had chosen a tree that appeared to have high and thick branches, somewhat away from the other trees, about fifteen to twenty steps away from the tree hollow.
He climbed up a branch of the tree that overlooked the hollow where the woman was.
Carefully surveying his surroundings and positioning himself, although concerned about a reptile attack during the night, he remained in good spirits.
He sat with his back against the tree trunk, looking at the bag in his lap, which contained a few kilos of meat.
'I have a few kilos of animal meat that I can trade with medicinal herbs, and I'm only a quarter day's walk away from home.'
'At this rate, I could make it back home before three days have passed.'
Even though he would spend the night sleepless and tense, the excitement of being able to return to his sister made this not much of a problem.
Although he might not have been fully aware due to excitement, the likelihood of a predatory attack during the night was actually very high.
Having wandered throughout the day in this forest, which was teeming with particularly aggressive animals due to impending disaster, he had been accompanied by the woman emitting the scent of blood from her body.
Their only chance was to hope that all these predators would focus on the carcass of the four-legged animal left behind by him and the woman.
He began his tense wait, carefully positioning the woman's bow and last arrow on the branch where he was sitting.
As the forest fell silent with the darkness of night, he continued to sit quietly, controlling his breath and pondering what he would do if attacked by a reptile.
While listening intently to his surroundings, he occasionally opened his eyes to try to perceive movement in the darkness.
He continued to wait for dawn without confidence that he would notice something crawling from the tree branch or trunk in time.
A span of a few incense sticks later...
SCREECH!...SCREECH!!...SCREECH!!!
As he continued his tense and anxious waiting late at night, he suddenly opened his eyes to the sounds of birds coming from the direction of their daytime location.
while he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness and briefly glanced at the tree hollow in front and below him, in that brief moment, he perceived a small movement to his left.
When he turned his head, he noticed a reptile curled on a branch roughly at the same height where he was positioned.
Within jumping distance, this reptile appeared to be as long as a human's leg and as thick as a human's arm.
As he looked, he realized that the reptile was curled in an 'S' shape and had raised its head, looking towards him.
HISS..!!!
Upon realizing this, the reptile suddenly opened its mouth and leaped towards him.
In that moment, reflexively, he shifted his body to the side and hurled the dagger he was gripping tightly in his left hand towards the creature's incoming body.
Reacting with his reflexes, he narrowly dodged the attack as the reptile leaped towards him with its mouth open.
The reptile's body split in two near its head and fell to the ground.
When he looked at the animal that had fallen down and appeared to be a snake, he realized that he had successfully killed the animal and felt relieved.
If he hadn't opened his eyes with the sounds of flying birds all of a sudden, that snake, as big as the palm of his hand with its mouth wide open, would have caught him from the left side of his face or neck.
'If there were no sounds, I would have become prey to this damned snake, as big as my head with its mouth open!'
He was indebted to the flying birds and the faint moonlight filtering through the trees for his narrow escape.
Again he steadied himself, gathered his focus, and observed the tree and its branches from where he stood.
Afterward, he looked at the tree hollow where he had left the woman and relaxed upon seeing that the hollow's lid was still tightly closed.
After looking at the trunk and other branches of the tree where he had been sitting for a while, as well as at the surrounding trees and their branches, he sat back down in the position he had gotten up from, convinced that there was no other danger.
This time, he didn't close his eyes to rest.
He was looking around, appearing intent on spending the remainder of the night watching and listening attentively to his surroundings.
If the pointy-eared woman had seen what just happened, she would have thought that it could only have happened not by coincidence or luck, but rather through the forest's blessing and reverence for someone it respects and values.
For North, it was a fortunate situation that wouldn't happen a second time.