Flindra gathered the reins and
mounted. Once in the saddle she pulled
her cloak tighter around her body to afford protection from the wind. It would be a chilly camp tonight.
Riding parallel to a small creek,
Flindra found a suitable camp. A large
fallen tree wedged between two giant boulders would give good protection from
the wind. The ground was fairly level
and soft with needles - it would provide a good bed. Beyond the boulders was a grassy area where
she could let Deru graze.
Flindra tended to Deru first. She had always been taught to take care of
her animal before she thought of herself.
After all, her life may depend on the horse. She unsaddled him and then brushed him
thoroughly. She felt his back and the
girth area to make sure he had no sore spots from being ridden all day. She then picketed him in the grassy area.
During the course of the day, Flindra
had been gathering dry sticks and pine needles.
Her Papa had told her many times that it was not always easy to find dry
kindling when setting up a camp. It was
better to gather dry tinder when she found it, making it a certainty that she
could start a fire when she needed it.
She dug in her pockets and pulled out her store of kindling. Placing them on the ground before her, she
soon had a small, smokeless fire burning.
The fire was really too small to provide a great deal of warmth. Its main purpose was to add a little comfort
to her lonely camp.
Flindra ate a simple meal of bread and
cheese. She washed the food down with
the cold water of the creek. Once her
supply of bread was gone, she would exist on berries and dried, smoked
meat. Dakra had given her a good supply
of dried foods since she would not have time to do much foraging.
Before going to bed, she packed
everything back in her saddlebags just in case she needed to break camp in a
hurry. She raked some pine needles into
a pile with her foot and spread out her sleeping furs on top. Her saddle would be her pillow until she
found Kewero and she placed it on the uphill end of her bed. Finally, she strung her bow, took several
arrows out of the quiver, and left the bow within a quick reach of her bed.
She slipped off her boots and crawled
into her rustic bed. As she rested in
her furs, Flindra looked up into the starry sky and wondered if she would ever
know happiness and the comforts of home again.
She knew the best way to overcome her sorrow was to focus on the
goodness of the Spirit and to thank Him for her safe journey.
"Thank you, Beloved Spirit, for
keeping me safe today and guiding my footsteps.
Look after my family, dear Lord, and keep them from harm. Thank you for all the many blessings of my
life."
Her attention was drawn to the night
noises. A squirrel had been disturbed
from his slumber and was barking his outrage to the world. The darting movements in the underbrush indicated
the source of the squirrel's alarm - a fox was hunting on the ground. The squirrel's warning barks would alert all
the other potential prey. The fox needed
to move on before tonight's hunt would be successful. Flindra continued to listen to the drama of
the forest as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.
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