High above them, a bird of prey circled, a small but conspicuous black silhouette against the azure sky. Renalia craned her neck back, mouth open with astonishment. Boglings can fly? 

“Renalia, five steps to my right and back,” Lexi shouted as she started banging her spear against her wooden shield.

Moving to the safe spot behind Lexi’s right side, she assumed a guard position. By unspoken agreement, Donaldson distanced himself, crouching down about fifty paces away, facing the two of them.

“Hoo-wap, hoo-wap,” chanted Lexi while shimmying from side to side. Her movements caught the undead bird’s attention, and it folded its wings to stoop and attack.

Startled by how fast the tapered oval shape fell, Renalia took an involuntary step backward before forcing herself to stay still. The plan they had discussed earlier in the day relied on Lexi holding the attention of the bogling while Donaldson speared it. Any errant movement by Renalia had the potential to spoil their preparation.

Despite recognizing its speedy descent, Renalia still misjudged how fast it truly dropped without a frame of reference in the blue sky. One moment she was glancing up to look at it; the next moment, faster than she could dip her head, it slammed against Lexi’s upraised shield.

The impact was so loud that Renalia was surprised to find the wooden shield still intact.

Lexi had absorbed the force of the blow by crouching and shortening her arms. It placed the bogling at the right height for Donaldson’s thrown spear to pierce through the middle. The long lance bounced off the shield at a slight angle, its upward motion providing enough resistance to carry the struggling bogling along with it instead of flying straight through.

“With me,” Lexi yelled as she turned around and set off after the bogling at a slow jog, shield held in front of her. Renalia followed behind on the left, surprised to find Donaldson so close to her and trailing Lexi on the right. Confirming with a quick glance back that Renalia kept up, Lexi maintained the tempo.

It was only with surreptitious activations of [Bogling Claws] on her toenails and [Bogling Skin] on the soles of her feet that Renalia could push off of each step with enough momentum. This allowed her to keep pace with her longer-legged trainers.

They reached the lance fairly fast, the bogling struggles only moving it two-thirds of the way to the butt of the spear. Lexi halted ten paces from it and held out her spear in an open palm. Catching up to her on the right, Donaldson grabbed the spear and, in a blur of motion over the remaining distance, stabbed their prey before it could free itself.

As its writhing slowed, Lexi turned to Renalia and asked, “Well, how’s that?”

Mimicking Lexi’s relaxed stance, Renalia laughed. “That was awesome! It flew so fast, but it was like, bam against your shield. And Donaldson threw his spear and it went right through the middle!”

“Haha. I like your enthusiasm, kid, but I meant more in terms of what you are learning.”

“Oh, right. It worked as planned. You took the first hit and stopped its attack. And before it could attack again, Donaldson speared it.”

“Yes, it’s important to reiterate–that means to say again–the overarching strategy. We are in their territory and with their enhanced senses, we almost never get to ambush them. So the best plan is to spot them before they could attack, then block and counter.”

Lexi tapped her shield on the ground, shaking off some residual bog water. She paused for questions before continuing. “While it’s good that everything worked out, it’s also important to understand what could have gone better. That is essential to learning and improving. Donaldson?”

Donaldson had removed both spears from the still bogling and now lifted it into the air by its wings. He whistled as the wings, mostly still feathered, expanded to over four feet. “Damn, these feathers will fetch a pretty penny.”

“Donaldson,” Lexi said with exasperation. “List the learnings, for Renalia’s sake.”

“Ahem, yes. Anything for our little good luck charm. This”–he raised the bogling to get a closer look–“peregrine falcon was damnably fast. It completely messed up my timing, and I had to throw my lance to get it before it flew off again. By the way, never throw your spear unless you have a backup weapon.” Working the toe of his boot under Lexi’s spear, he kicked it up to his sister. “Which I did.”

Lexi grimaced as she caught her bog-slicked spear. “My spear is not your backup. I let you borrow it because you lost yours.”

Addressing Renalia, she said, “I underestimated its speed too. Originally, I had thought to angle its contact so that it would bounce and plop between my brother and me. But it hit with such force that, even with my [Force Shield] in effect, I had to crouch down so that my arms wouldn’t break.”

“Now, what about the dogs?” Lexi asked.

The excitement of watching two professional hunters fight a flying bogling made Renalia forget about the dogs. With the bogling dead, the three dogs now wandered around them, providing a lookout for intruders. “Um, they were close by?”

“Haha,” Lexi laughed. “Good guess, kid. It’s a lot to take in at first, and it’s always best to focus on the most dangerous element: the bogling. But with experience, you’ll learn when you can safely let the dogs rely on their instincts and when you’ll need to keep an eye on them.”

“This being one of the latter instances,” Donaldson said. He squeezed out the remaining bog water from their prey and retrieved his spear. “It’s not every day that a bogling drops out of the sky like a gift from God Himself.”

“God doesn’t give us boglings. If He did, He sure needs to work on His delivery.”

“Sacrilege! He’s literally raining money down on us.”

“First off, that’s not what ‘literally’ means. Now who’s trying to use big words? Second of all, if He’s sending us boglings, doesn’t that mean He’s living in the bog?”

“Of course not. Everyone knows He’s up there in the sky. Why else would Father Cornelius always look up when talking about God?”

“Hm, yes, I think you’re right about that. Though, I don’t think the Father actually sees God when he looks up; he only wishes he did.”

While at ease with their good-natured and lighthearted bantering, this casual characterization of God, followed by a quip about the Father, discomforted Renalia. However, the sight of a familiar flicker in the hole at the bogling’s middle distracted her.

If Cards came from God, perhaps He used boglings as a kind of packaging. Wait a minute, are humans another kind of packaging? Her whole body shivered at the thought, and she forced the idea away.

She approached Donaldson. “Can I see the dead bird?” Please, God, if you are giving me gifts, please let it be [Bogling Flight].

“Of course, little one.”

“Oh, it’s so heavy! How does it even fly?”

“Well, it’s a simple answer really.”

“Magic,” Lexi readily replied.

“Yep, magic,” Donaldson confirmed.

“But that doesn’t explain anything,” complained Renalia.

“Sure it does,” said Donaldson. “Why are there boglings?”

“Magic,” Lexi replied.

“How do beasts come back to life?”

“Magic.”

“Why can they breathe underwater?”

“Magic.”

Seeing Renalia’s frustrated expression, Lexi explained, “Listen, kid, we’re just hunters. We don’t understand any of this. It’s easier to say ‘magic’ to anything we don’t know while holding on to what we do know: poking enough holes in them kills them again. If you want to know the why of things, go ask Father Cornelius. Although, he’ll probably say–”

Donaldson clasped his hands and looked up at the sky. “God sent the boglings to test our resolve.”

Renalia opened her mouth to disagree, but snapped it shut as she realized that was exactly what Father Cornelius would say. That he had, in fact, said the exact same phrase to her many times. In the past, it was comforting to think that the world was testing her, challenging her; it was more bearable than the world being unfair and filled with pain for no reason.

But now, she realized it for what it was. “If it explains everything, it’s the same as explaining nothing.”

“Exactly,” Lexi said. “People don’t like to say they don’t know something. They want to help, so they say something vague that might be true.”

How much of the Father’s sermons were true and how much was explaining things in a way that seemed true? This troubled her greatly.

Leaning on Lexi’s wisdom, she decided to hold on to what she did know about boglings: they have a Card that she could take.

She placed her fingers in the hole created by the lance. “Straight through the middle.”

“Indeed! A good throw, that was.” Donaldson beamed proudly.

Lexi coughed politely from behind them. She muttered under her breath, “A teaching moment.”

Donaldson cleared his throat and added, “Though, to be fair, the whole point of the setup was so I didn’t need to worry about where the bogling would be, just when.”

Renalia understood the concept of simplification, as Granny had taught her the idea in another context. When she had asked Granny to teach the words commonly found on cards, Granny had instead started with the objects they could see around them. She had wanted Renalia to focus solely on pronunciation and spelling, not learning unfamiliar words or concepts at the same time.

She placed the newly acquired Card into her Deck, slightly disappointed that it was [Bogling Sight] and not a flight power. Neither would have helped in harvesting peat, but flying probably would have made hunting easier. Plus, she would be flying.

The remaining trek back to the village passed pleasantly, with all of them, including the dogs, in good spirits. Based on Donaldson’s estimation of the falcon’s value, Renalia hoped this would alleviate Malchim’s foul mood of late.

 

While Renalia cleaned and dissected the peregrine falcon under Shim’s supervision, she kept an ear on the conversation that Lexi and Donaldson were having with Malchim. 

“Well, how'd she do?” Malchim asked. “Is she an instinctive hunter or what?”

“We went over the basics, which she picked up pretty fast,” Lexi replied.

“So when do you think she’ll be able to hunt alone?”

Lexi’s reply was so long in coming that Renalia glanced at them. The frown of disapproval that first appeared on Lexi’s face when they caught the stink of alcohol from Malchim had resurfaced.

“Renalia, pay attention!” Shim said. He was cutting the falcon with his skill while Renalia held the carcass still for him. “God, you’re as bad as Marcy.”

Renalia shrugged. Being compared to Shim’s own sister didn’t sting that much, since he obviously loved her a lot.

And why was he allowed to use [Cut]? Was it because his dad had the same card, so he didn’t need to perform any dangerous experiments? Or was it because he’s Ullock’s friend? And who made Ullock the enforcer of rules? Just because he’s bigger doesn’t mean he’s in charge.

But she cleared her thoughts as Lexi started speaking. 

“We will not be rushing the training just so you can take advantage of her kills while she’s under your care,” Lexi said in a measured tone. “Remember, I am doing this training as a favor I owe Lily. In her memory, we will do this correctly and safely. It’s what she would have wanted.”

Renalia’s heart eased upon hearing this. She had worried about how she was going to pay back the siblings for their help in training her.

When Granny had taught Renalia lessons, she had made sure to pay her back by assisting in the gathering of plants and the processing of herbs. And once she had learned the alphabet, she spent most of the time practicing by herself, only occasionally asking Granny some questions.

On the other hand, Lexi and Donaldson had both spent the whole day teaching her. So she was glad they got to keep the bogling. Except, the two of them had done the hunt themselves–without any help from Renalia–so it belonged to them, anyway. If they were doing this in repayment of a favor, does that mean she’s actually indebted to Shim’s late mom?

Malchim drew a sharp intake of breath at the mention of his dead wife. He said slowly, “She’s more than capable. You didn’t see the size of the hare she brought back.”

“No doubt she’s brave and smart,” Donaldson answered. “But she’s also very, very lucky. As much as we all wine and dine Lady Luck, we should never depend on her showing up.”

“We’ll have a better assessment once we start actually hunting with her,” Lexi said. “For now, it’s enough that we’re giving you first processing rights.”

“Renalia,” Lexi called. “Get a good night of sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow morning again.”

“Okay! Thank you, Lexi!”

After she finished cleaning the insides of the bird, Shim handed her what he called a tweezer. It was a piece of metal folded upon itself and Shim showed her how to squeeze it to grab and pluck the preserved feathers out. She marveled at how precise and powerful the tool was. So much easier than using her hands.

When Malchim went back into the cottage, she asked Shim, “What does Lexi mean when she said she owed your mom a favor?”

“I knew they were good friends, but I don’t know anything about a favor.”

“What was your mom like? I don’t think I ever got the chance to really talk with her.”

“She was… She was the best person. She made everything and everyone around her better.”

“I would have liked to have gotten to know her.” She concentrated on plucking the feathers as Shim squeezed his eyes shut, preventing further discussion.

It was actually quite fun applying just the right amount of force to maneuver the tweezer in between the feathers to grab exactly one feather. And then close it with just enough pressure to remove the feather from the skin without damaging it. She barely noticed when Shim left her side, completely forgetting dinner preparations.

Thankfully, Shim commandeered the other kids to help. Delaying dinner would have probably sent post-Lexi-confrontation Malchim into a rage.