Hunting was not her forte. The idea of killing an animal was too much for Lumia. Even once dead, there was so much more that needed to be done. Cleaning, skinning to name a few. It wasn'tβ as if she didnβt understand where meat came from but it was a luxury for one such as her. More so, when she refused to hunt herself. Mia, instead foraged and made medicine to sell in the village. It was how she fed herself and kept the meager roof over her head. Winter was by far the worst time, when the world grew cold and frigid. Plants dying only to be reborn in the spring. However, nature always provided.
Cupping her hands in front of her mouth, Lumia exhaled into her frozen fingers. The threadbare gloves were not doing much to keep them warm, but it was better than nothing, if barely. Looking into the basket at her feet she took stock of her haul. A few bunches of spruce needles,some birch bark and twigs. Both were good for tea. Ruby little rose hips were bright against the more earthy tones within. It had been a lucky find and Mia was happy with them. They had a variety of uses and could be sold for a premium at this time of the year. Burdock roots also lay covered in dirt still at the bottom of her basket. They had been a pain to dig out of the frozen earth, but they would help feed her.
Now, she was on the hunt for mushrooms. This part of the forest was silent, still. Mia found beauty in it. It was said the fae wilds crossed over somewhere near here. While known, the fae tended to not bother with the humans much. The borders were meant to keep the more dangerous fae from slipping into the human world and while it was said to work, most didnβt venture too close. Mia too, tried to keep her distance, but when you were desperate.. Besides, was she miles away or right beside it? Lumia had no idea. It wasnβt as if the border were marked now, assuming it had ever been marked.
Fae could feel the border, but a human? As Lumia crossed over the boundary into the fae wilds, was unaware, basket in hand. A small clump of winter mushrooms were nestled in the roots of a tree and she knelt beside them, fingers brushing snow from around them. βSuch a lucky find,β her voice was sweet and soft as she talked to herself. Lumia wanted to take all of them, but it wouldnβt allow them to grow again next year. It would behoove her to keep that in mind and only take what she needed. Her eyes caught another little clump of mushrooms not too far away and her lavender eyes lit up. Leaving a handful at the tree sheβd found first she wandered deeper into danger, unknowingly.
Finding her way back shouldnβt be that hard, her tracks in the snow would lead her home again, assuming it didnβt snow. So as she found treasure after treasure, she paid little heed to how deep she was going. Her small basket filled with a wealth of foraged items. Pausing she knelt back on her heels, her back resting against a tree as she lifted a snow filled canteen to her lips. The crystal clean snowfall had melted next to the heat of her body and was icy and refreshing as she rested. Shaking her head, Lumia tried to shake free some dark, ebony locks from her face to no avail. Huffing she blew at them only for them to flutter up and fall in the same place.
Distracted, Mia never heard the predator approaching. Had she not been, it was also unlikely that sheβd have been alerted to the naga that stalked her. It was her human scent that had lured it out of its burrow, otherwise the reptilian creature would not have ventured out into the snow kissed lands. A long, snake-like body with a human-like torso, covered in the same scales. Four arms, muscled and ready to rip apart its prey. The face was almost human, though like the brethren that Mia would have known, it could dislocate its jaw.
Scales made no sound on snow as it drew closer to Lumi. It would be her end, a painful, horrible end and no one would ever know where Lumia had vanished to and in a few years, sheβd be forgotten. It was perhaps lucky that the naga was not the only thing hunting her in the snowy woods. #f4bbff
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