Mi, Bro, and Atlas stared suspiciously at the river, and Tar who seemed to observe them carefully. Normally they would have just walked through it as it was only knee high, but after falling for Tar’s traps once, they couldn’t help but be careful.
The river was clear, and except for a few algae, it didn’t look like there were any fish or other potential dangers.
“Follow me; I will get us over.” Said Atlas, with a stomp on the ground and a wave of both his hands to the right, a small wave formed in the river, and Atlas froze everything that was above the usual water level of the river.
He didn’t have the power to freeze the river completely, and this way was the most energy-efficient one. He was a bit smug when he saw the surprise flash in Tar’s eyes when he saw him freeze the water. But impressing the senior hunter was his plan from the beginning, so the situation was perfect. But the surprise in his face vanished as quickly as it came, and Atlas knew that he needed to excel in every test the rat-like man had for him.
“Took you long enough. I thought you wanted to make a camp on the other side with how long you took.”
Bro was about to say something, but Mi and Atlas quickly covered his mouth with one hand each. Bro always had a short temper, and getting trapped already put him on the edge.
“Good. Calm your temper. Getting angry can cost lives. And there is no fault in taking your time to evaluate the situation. But wasting energy over uncertainty is just as bad. There was nothing in the river that would have posed a danger. So when you take your time, at least have faith in your own judgment.”
Atlas was a little embarrassed. He hadn’t seen any traps in the river and still thought it might be dangerous just because of the traps. He didn’t like the feeling of getting played with, but he assumed that Tar had done these games many times before and knew how to trick people.
“Anyway, let's introduce ourselves first. Knowing each other is the first step towards good teamwork. I’m Tar. One of the oldest active hunters, and you are probably the last batch I will ever train. My specialty is, as you have seen, building traps as well as coordinating a hunt. So, who are you, what can you do, and what can’t you do?”
“I’m Mi. I think I… I’m also good at coordinating when hunting. In Moster & Hunter... I always knew where the others would run too.”
“Haha, we will see about that. Animals behave differently than kids running away. And even more important, they fight back.” Interrupted Tar with an almost arrogant grin. “Continue”.
“Ahm, yes, then… Maybe I’m bad at running? I’m slower than Atlas or Bro.”
“Good. If a hunter needs to run, it means he has failed anyway. And I want to teach you not to fail. But more of that afterwards. What about you?” said Tar and pointed at Atlas.
“I’m Atlas. I have good control when bending, and I think I can use techniques that are less common. Or at least I don’t see others using them too often. The problem is that I don’t have too much chi.”
Mi and Bro stared at him. They had seen him bending and thought he didn’t have any weakness in that regard.
“You are the kid that came up with the rice fields? Good work. Saved us a lot of work and probably a few lives as well. Keep that up. You know about Chi as well. Good. Very Good. Your control and technique are indeed surprising. On the other hand, with that weakness, your earlier behavior while crossing the river is even more risky. Why did you not ask one of your teammates to help you cross the river?”
“I thought that acting fast and making a fast decision might be better than hesitating for much longer. And it's not like my Chi is already exhausted. On the contrary, what I lost is recovering as we speak.”
“Fine. And what about you?” asked Tar, and his green, somewhat glassy ices stared at Bro.
“I’m Bro, and I will become the best hunter like my dad.”
“I know your dad. He is neither the best nor the strongest. It is his team that is working well together. And your father knows that. It seemed he bragged too much at home, so listen here. Hunting is a team effort. Hunting alone is risky and can get you killed. The swamp, contrary to what the village elder preaches, is not your friend. You die if you go there without knowing what you do. And to prevent that, you need a team. Just imagine you sprain your leg because you step on some rotten wood that cracks down, or you get bit by a snake that hid in a small bush. A teammate can save you. Alone, you would die.” monologed Tar with an unusual amount of annoyance. "Okay, kids, new question. What makes a hunter good?”
“He has to be strong enough to hunt any beast in the swamp? And protect his team?” said Bro, but because of the earlier speech, he was a little unsure?
“Not as bad as expected, but no.”
“Someone who fulfills the role in his team perfectly?” answered Mi.
"Better, but still not right.”
Atlas contemplated it a little and thought that, in essence, being a hunter was just a job with a purpose, like a farmer. A farmer who had one good harvest was not necessarily a good farmer. But a farmer who was able to grow his crops even in less favorable conditions was a good farmer.
“A good hunter is someone who regularly delivers food to the village.”
“Exactly right. A good hunter REGULARLY delivers food to the village. And guess what? A dead hunter is unable to do so. So a hunter who always hunts the largest and most dangerous animals will only be a good hunter for so long. And then the village would need to feed someone again until he is strong enough to hunt. So, remember this. You are the greatest resource for the village. Atlas fields might have alleviated the problem a little, but not so much that we don’t need to hunt anymore. So, rule number one. Don’t die. Now the traps should have given you the first hint on how to do that. Watch your surroundings. What else could help you make it easier to hunt?”
“Using Traps. Sneaking up on the prey? Planning the attack?” said Mi.
“Fighting in a team? Killing the prey in one blow?” said Bro.
“Yes, everything is correct. Anything else?” asked Tar and signaled for Atlas to speak.
With the suggestions Bro and Mi made, he had to think about what useful suggestion he could even make, but he didn’t need to think too long.
“Choosing the right prey? Prey that you can kill. Prey that you can carry. Prey that is already hurt.” said Atlas a little unsure.
“Yes. Good. Very good. There is no right or wrong way to hunt. Only success and failure. So when you hunt, you choose the way that has the highest rate of success. If it means just hunting possum chicken, you do that. If it means sneaking up on the prey and killing it while it shows an opening, you do that. There is no glorious death. It’s better to hunt something weak instead of getting your head crushed because you got tackled by a bullfrog head-on. Now let’s see how good of a hunter you already are. Catch the possum chicken.” Said Tar, and with a kick, the cages sprang open, and the three possum chickens ran away in a frenzy.
“Catch them, alive!” yelled Tar with audible amusement in his voice.
Atlas reacted the instant Tar had said catch, and small darts of ice were already forming between his hand and the river. Only then did he understand that he shouldn’t kill those possum chickens. With a quick and hasty motion, the dart shot toward the nearest possum chicken. Midair, the dart seemed to melt into slushy water before hitting its target’s legs and freezing again before the chicken could land after its initial jump out of the cage.
The whole thing had barely taken Atlas three seconds. At that time, Mi and Bro had just decided who should chase after which target. After using a water jet to throw the possum-chicken into his hands, he watched his teammates.
He could see the slightly impressed but at the same time jealous glare from Bro as he decided to also use bending to catch the chicken. But unlike him, he used ten times the amount of water and chi to slam the possum chicken against a tree.
To everyone’s surprise the chicken not only survived it managed to free itself from the waterjet, and climbed up the tree it was smashed against faster than anyone could stop it.
Mi hadn’t done anything yet and had just observed her possum chicken so far. After some time, she picked up a little stone before preparing a water whip that reached out of the river. She circled a little around her target before throwing the stone.
The possum chicken instinctively decided to flee the moment it was in the air to doge, but the water whip captured it in one swift motion. It was so perfectly timed that Atlas was sure that Mi had calculated where the possum chicken would jump.
With a smug grin, she turned to Bro. “Second.”
“That doesn’t count. Mine is… is bigger… and faster than yours.” Protested Bro and angrily throw another water ball towards the possum chicken that was now hanging from one of the tree branches, seemingly mocking Bro.
Bro then started to send a barrage of water shots towards the chicken, and a few branches crashed down, but the possum chicken just jumped from branch to branch.
Bro’s display was impressive in a way that Atlas envied him a little. If he wasted so much chi he would already be lying on the floor from exhaustion.
“Should we help him?” asked Atlas after freezing his possum chicken’s hands as it started to scratch itself free.
“No, No. I can do this.” Protested Bro.
To Atlas surprise, instead of throwing more water, hoping to get a lucky shot, he walked into the river and began to swang his arms in front of him like giving a kid on a swing a push. Within seconds, the water from the river seemed to stop a meter away from him. After about five seconds, a one meter tall waterwall had formed, and Bro, with one stiff but fast motion, put his hands down, and then the moment the water wall crashed on him, he raised his hands again.
The water catapulted him almost four meters into the air.
“You damn chiiiiiicken!!!” yelled Bro as he projectiled himself towards the chicken, catching it before it could jump to the next branch.
“I got it!”
“You idiot, you are falling!” yelled Mi, but before she or Atlas could do anything, Tar had created a water whip to catch Bro.
“It seems like you didn’t understand what I told you just a few moments ago. We hunt possum chickens because you don’t get hurt while catching them. What you did was reckless, idiotic, and not brave.” Said Tar with a grim expression. He roughly took the possum chickens from their hands and threw them back into the cage.
“And you two aren’t any better. When did I say that you needed to catch them alone? You are a team; act like one. Atlas, with your speed, you could have caught two possum chickens before they could have reacted. And even if not, you could have helped the others. You could also have picked the chicken up by hand to save energy. You just told yourself that you need to conserve your energy, and now you have done the opposite. Mi, your plan was good, but it would have been far easier if you had asked Atlas. And Bro, if you do something like that again, I will do everything I can to stop you from becoming a hunter. You will become a liability to any team if you act like that. I hope that is understood. Now, what else could you have done better?”
Atlas felt pissed. He had thought he had done a good job by instantly taking down his target and didn’t expect to get scolded. The problem was that the critique was indeed spot-on. He could have caught two possum chickens. Hitting them midair isn’t far more difficult than juggling with rice on his farm, even though the possum chicken's movements are a little unpredictable.
The other two looked equally downcast, and no one responded for some time.
“We could have built a trap?” asked Mi.
“Is that a question? Why is that a question? Could you have built a trap or not?” retorted Tar, dissatisfied.
“No…? I don’t know how.” Answered Mi meekly.
“Good. I will teach you how in the future. So, what could you have done?”
“We could have used bait to get Bro’s possum chicken out of the tree.” Said Atlas.
“Yes, that would have been an option. It would have saved you time and effort. You could also have put the bait in the cage, and after about ten minutes, all three chickens would have been back in it out of their own free will. Possum chickens are stupid. Make use of that. It saves you time and effort.”
All three of them looked enlightened and embarrassed by that revelation. All of them had taken the task as a test for their abilities, but Tar obviously wanted them to use their heads instead of brute-forcing everything.
“Good. I hope the next time you will think before you act. Now let’s make a fire to celebrate your first successful hunt. Because, despite everything, you were successful.” Said Tar with a warm smile, and his previous roughness had disappeared.
Within the next few minutes, Tar had shown them how to light a fire with a firestone and finely split wood. He taught them that unless they were in the village, they needed to create the fire inside a hole to decrease the smoke and the possibility of causing a wildfire. The hole was connected to a small air tunnel, which they could easily dig with their hands.
The next thing he taught them was that when they were camping outside the village, they always needed someone to stand guard. He also showed them that the guard should occasionally use waterbending to push the fog outside the camp, to not only increase their own vision but also because the dense fog would stop some animals from entering the camp. It was an application of bending that Atlas had spent little time thinking about until now. But after seeing it in action, he quickly got ideas about using it in the future. Not to hide their camp from beasts but to hide an army.
After quickly gutting the chickens while explaining how to dispose of the trash to not attract wild animals, they started to grill their first hunted meal. To Atlas surprise, Tar seemed as interested in Atlas' field and farm project as Bro and Mi were in the hunter job. When Atlas asked him about it, Tar said it would be nice to not feel useless after retiring in a few years. After hearing that, Atlas knew he had found the right person to pitch his ideas for a watermill that could not only be used for producing flour but also to build a water-powered sawmill. But he would take it slow to not appear stranger than he already was.
