First Contact

Winona allowed him to lean on her as he sat up, worried he might still be weak. She smiled and shook her head at his apology. "There's nothing to be sorry for," she said putting a reassuring hand on top of his and rubbing it gently as she put her other hand on his shoulder. A sudden noise then took her by surprise, and she realized that it was Niels' stomach growling loudly due to lack of food. "You need food...." she says with a frown, laying a hand on his thin abdomen. He was already extremely thin as it was, and she figured that he had not had much to eat on his long journey across the sea from wherever it was he came from. Not to mention he was doubtlessly exhausted, and that combined with the lack of food and the fall he'd just taken would be enough to make anyone seriously ill. "Why don't you stay here and rest a bit longer? I can go and hunt something for you to eat," she said, picking up her bow again. "You'll need to regain your strength," she added, gently rubbing his thin shoulders.

Relaxing into her touch slightly Niels nodded, being put at ease by her actions he nodded slowly, taken by surprise by the gentle touch on his abdomen and took in a breath as a quick gasp and watched her, pale eyes wide. Though his features were gaunt an slim, he nodded, moving away from her to lay on the ground, crossing an arm across his chest, closing his eyes with a yawn he looked around the clearing before he looked back at her again, a small smile working its way onto his features as he nodded, pulling at a knife on his belt before he held it out to her, grasping it soflty by the blade tip, his smile widening "take it with you ja?"

Niels began to sit up, insisting the knife into her hands before he could allow her to say otherwise and brought her fingers around the handle as he gave it a push towards her body before he laid down, punching his cloak up as a makeshift pillow "You can just keep that knife" Niels nodded, giving her a small point as he put his head back on the somewhat pillow below his head.

Winona took the knife and looked at it with amazement. She'd never seen a knife made of metal and was stunned by the brilliant shine and sharpness of the material. It was beautiful, simply beautiful. "Thank you..." was all she could say softly, having never received a gift from a man before. She sheathed the knife onto her belt. As per Indian custom, she knew she had to give him something in return for it. She didn't have much on her, nothing but her shaman's pendant and another necklace that she'd earned long ago for her first big hunt. It consisted of an elaborately painted bear claw and was decorated with brightly colored shell and turquoise. She removed it from her neck and put it around Niels'. "Keep this; it will keep you safe," she said as she patted the bear claw charm against his chest and smiled at him. "I will be back soon," she added, giving his hand a small squeeze before standing up and disappearing off into the woods.

Niels blinked, letting out a small huff at the pats on his chest and nodded, picking up the charms now around his neck and touched the feathers before he laid down again, holding it over his face and running his hands over the claw. Turning it over a few times he turned to look in the direction Winona had left before he settled down again and continued to look at the necklace, turning it over several times in his hands yawning he closed his eyes, lifting the collar of his shirt and tucking it just behind to keep the gift from being damaged in any way during his adventures.


Closing his eyes to take a nap, Niels eventually made himself comfortable on the ground with a balled up pillow made from his cloak. Keeping warm by curling into himself and puling some of the cloak over his shoulders.

Winona silently stalked the grazing deer as she strung and readied an arrow from her hiding spot among the brush. She had her eye on a particularly large buck as she figured Niels could use all the food he could get right now. However, the buck moved just out of range and Winona knew she couldn't risk moving closer to it without making noise and scaring off the rest of the herd. She figured she'd have to settle for the smaller doe that was now well within her shooting range. With that, she took a deep breath, aimed, and loosed an arrow into the side of the deer which immediately let out a noise of pain as it fell bucking to the ground and all the others took off like lighting. She ran to the injured animal and, pulling out the knife Niels had given her, hastily slit its throat to save it any further pain. She then chanted a quick prayer apologizing to and thanking the animal for its sacrifice before hoisting it over her back and heading back to where Niels was.

When Winona returned to him, Niels was still fast asleep and she couldn't help but smile at how peaceful he looked for once. She figured he had to be exhausted and in desperate need of food and rest at this point. Trying to keep as quiet as possible to avoid waking him, she went to work building a small fire and butchering the deer with her new knife, which she found made the task much easier, to prepare it for roasting over the fire.

Niels, hearing the slight rustle of materials and other movements he turned over watching her work away at the deer laid out before her with the knife he had given to help her easier with the hunt and cleaning of the carcass. Stretching with a yawn he moved closer to her, slowly sitting up un he was able to grab her shoulder and sighed again, pointie of the deers organs "ave that...ja?"

As Niels grabbed Winona's shoulder, she jumped a bit, startled. "Ah, you're awake..." she said. She raised a confused eyebrow at him when he asked for the organs, wondering what he could possibly want with them. "Uh...sure, I'll put them aside for you," she said as she wiped the blood from her hands onto the grass. She then reached out a hand and laid it gently on Niels' forehead, smiling at him. "Just rest, okay? I will cook the meat and it'll be ready soon. You'll feel much better once you have something decent to eat," she reassured him as she gently patted his thin stomach. Spearing them on a sharpened stick, Winona began roasting the choicest cuts of meat over the fire. "There," she said, taking it off the fire after a short while and handing it to him. "Eat up; I'm sure it's better than whatever you've been eating on your journey!" she said grinning at him.

Niels nodded as he was given a small pat and settled back down on the ground besides her. Half paying attention to her before he sat up once again grabbing for one of the organs she had set aside for him, dragging the liver over before he removed a knife from his belt and began to cut a small sliver from the organ he tossed the small piece into his mouth, cutting a second and offering it to Winona on the end of the knife. Offering a tired stare in her direction as he held it to her. insisting slightly as he moved close to the fire, taking a cooked piece of meat and balancing it on his knee. Wiping his bloodied hand on the grass and his own pants before he picked up the stick with the cooked meat again.

When Niels held out the raw organ to her, she looked at him with confusion, wondering why he would prefer that over cooked meat, especially since she'd given him the choicest pieces. She wasn't going to eat any of it herself since her people only usually ate the raw liver of an animal right immediately after they first killed it, but Niels appeared very insistent and she didn't want to insult him. "Umm....thanks...." she said, taking it from off of his knife and eating it, trying not to grimace. She hoped he'd eat the meat she'd cooked as well, thinking it be better for him in terms of regaining strength. "How do you feel?" she finally asked.