"I admire you, you're never afraid of anything, you're so strong. I'm weak, a coward."
"Who said I'm not afraid?"
"But... you always manage to get through these things no matter how bad things get."
"Kid, here's the thing. I'm often afraid while I do this job. But the trick is to control your fear, take a deep breath, and keep going. It's ok to be afraid, just.. don't let it stop you. Fear can be your friend making you remember to stay safe, too, after all." -- Anon Guest
"How?" said the kid. He had tried to help, but only had a pathetic collection of twigs and bark in hand. It was still not a bad haul for a little lordship who had never been in the wilderness before.
The adventurer had constructed a bivouac out of local saplings, a string made out of local bark, and a lot of the clothes that needed to dry. There was a bed made out of inter-woven sticks. There was also a dead boar that he was also in the middle of skinning. "I suppose it helps to know what to do, so you don't have to worry about what to do."
"I'm still scared of the dark," confessed his lordship.
"You're not truly scared of the dark, you're scared of the unknown. The things you cannot see because it is dark. It's wise to be cautious when you cannot sense what is around you. I can teach you many ways to see."
The kid looked at him with a plainly dubious expression. "Theres... only light?"
"Listen," said the adventurer.
The kid leaned closer.
"Not to me, just listen to everything. Still yourself and use your ears."
There was wind rushing through the leaves. The sounds of night animals. Crickets, owls. Something big and heavy treading around through some distant scrub.
"That's a bear. They're going to find the boar guts I buried and move on."
A distant shrieking that made his lordship clench.
"That was a fox," said the adventurer.
"Just a fox?" His lordship looked into the darkness where the sound had come from. "It sounded way worse than a fox."
"Foxes do that," said the adventurer. "They're small so they make a terrifying noise to scare off anything bigger."
"So... I could make a big noise to scare off predators?"
"As long as your predators aren't intelligent creatures, yeah. For them you need a different strategy."
"Tricks? Sneaking about?"
"Like that, yes." Skinned now, the boar carcass was on a spit and slowly roasting over the fire. "Knowing how to get away from someone hunting you is always a good thing. Avoiding mud, dodging away from fragile branches or mushrooms. Perhaps even moving from tree to tree if you have the skill."
"I... don't... have the skill."
"Of course not, you're -what- five?"
"Seven," corrected his lordship.
"Lots of years to learn what you need. But tonight? I'm going to teach you some of the essentials."
"Like what?"
"Seven ways to make a pointy stick."
[Photo by Ed van duijn on Unsplash]
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